Two Pour le Merite Award Recipient Pilot Studio Portrait Postcards

Two Pour le Merite Award Recipient Pilot Studio Portrait Postcards - Lieutenant Max Immelmann (black and white, matte finish, illustrating a standing Immelmann wearing the Prussian Pour le Merit at the neck, a group of five orders including the Saxon Saxe-Ernestine House Order, the Saxon Albert Order, the Prussian Iron Cross 2nd Class 1914, the Prussian House Order of Hohenzollern, the Bavarian Military Merit Order of St. Michael on his left breast, with the Prussian Iron Cross 1st Class 1914 and the Prussian Pilot's Badge below, the cypher of Wilhelm II on his belt buckle, inscribed in reverse type "Oberleutnant Immelmann" with a cross below in the upper left corner, studio marked "361 Postkartenvertrieb W. Sanke BERLIN N. 37. / Nachdruck wird gerichtlich verfolgt." in the lower right corner and the company's interlocking initials insignia in the lower left corner, with a solid black border); and Flight Lieutenant Oswald Boelcke (sepia-toned, matte finish, illustrating a left-facing seated Boelcke wearing the Prussian Pour le Merit at the neck, with the Prussian Iron Cross 1st Class 1914 and the Prussian Pilot's Badge below on his left side, inscribed in reverse type "Fliegerhauptmann Boelcke" in the upper left corner, studio marked "J. Müller Kgl. Hofphot. Dessau" in the lower right corner and the company's interlocking initials insignia and numbered "5580" in the lower left corner), 87 mm x 137 mm each, with postcard mailer backers, extremely fine.
Footnote: Max Immelmann (born September 21, 1890 in Dresden, died June 18, 1916 in Lentz) was the first German World War I flying ace. He was a great pioneer in fighter aviation and is often mistakenly credited with the first aerial victory using a synchronized gun. He was the first aviator to win the Pour le Merite, and was awarded it at the same time as Oswald Boelcke. His name has become attached to a common flying tactic, the Immelmann turn, and remains a byword in aviation. He is credited with fifteen aerial victories. After assisting in downing an FE.2b aircraft in combat, the second aircraft he was closing in on was piloted by Second Lieutenant G.R. McCubbin with Corporal J.H. Waller as gunner-observer, who was credited by the British with shooting Immelmanndown. On the German side, many had seen Immelmann as invincible and could not conceive the notion that he had fallen to enemy fire. Oswald Boelcke (born May 19, 1891 in Glebichenstein, Saalhreis, died October 28, 1916 in Baupaume, Pas-de-Calais, France) was one of the most famous German flying aces in the First World War and one of the most influential patrol leaders and tacticians of the early years of air combat. He is considered the father of the German fighter air force, as well as the "Father of Air Fighting Tactics". He was the first to formalize rules of air combat, which he presented as the "Dicta Boelcke". While he promulgated rules for the individual pilot, his main concern was the use of formation fighting rather than single effort. Boelcke died on October 28, 1916, when his aircraft and that of Erwin Bohme made contact during a dogflight. The upper wing of Boelcke's machine was torn in half by Bohme's landing gear, with Boelcke being killed on impact with the ground at the age of 25.

LZ 129 Hindenburg Postcard 1936 - Plain postcard, stamped "DEUTSCHE LEFTPOST, EUROPA-NORDAMERIKA" with a graphic of the Hindenburg flying over the Germany countryside, typed "Mit Luftschiff LZ 129 nach Nordamerika" above and an Air Mail label inscribed "MIT LUFTPOST PAR AVION" below, dual postmarked June 17, 1936 at Stuttgart, four Third Reich stamps, addressed to "Mr. Carl Fr. Schaeble 133-30 245th Street, Rosedale, L.I., N.Y. USA", return addressed "Abs. Schaeble, Stuttgart, Eberhardbau" on the reverse, on card stock, 100 mm x 155 mm, extremely fine. Footnote: LZ 129 Hindenburg was a large German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume. It was designed and built by the Zeppelin Company on the shores of Lake Constance in Friedrichshafen and was operated by the German Zeppelin Airline Company. The airship flew from March 1936 until destroyed by fire fourteen months later on May 6, 1937, at the end of the first North American transatlantic journey of its second season of service. Thirty-six people died in the accident, which occurred while landing at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The Hindenburg made seventeen round trips across the Atlantic Ocean in 1936, its first and only full year of service, with ten trips to the United States and seven to Brazil. In July 1936, the airship also completed a record Atlantic double crossing in five days, 19 hours and 51 minutes. During the 1936 season the airship flew 191,583 miles (308,323 km), carried 2,798 passengers, and transported 160 tons of freight and mail, a level of success that encouraged the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Company to plan the expansion of its airship fleet and transatlantic services. The airship was reportedly so stable that a pen or pencil could be stood on a table without falling. Its launches were so smooth that passengers often missed them, believing that the airship was still docked to its mooring mast. The cost of one way passage between Germany and the United States was US$400, an especially considerable sum in the Depression era. Hindenburg passengers were generally affluent, including many public figures, entertainers, noted sportsmen, political figures, and leaders of industry.

This is a photograph of SS-Hauptsturmführer Dieter Wisliceny, signed in black marker (slightly faded); the reverse in pen “Christmas 1944, Ardennes Offensive” as well as other markings; measuring 89 mm x 125 mm; near extremely fine condition, with a small blotch on the upper left of the photograph.

Footnote: Dieter Wisliceny joined the NSDAP in 1933 and enlisted in the SS in 1934, where he rose to the final rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer. During the implementation of the Final Solution, he was tasked with liquidating numerous ghettos and Jewish communities in occupied Europe. Wisliceny was a key witness to the prosecution of Adolf Eichmann for war crimes. Wisliceny as extradited to Czechoslovakia, where he was tried and hanged for war crimes in 1948. The affidavit of Dieter Wisliceny’s testimony are publicly available - the following is a quote taken during a trial in Nuremberg; “Eichmann told me that the words "final solution" meant the biological extermination of the Jewish race, but that for the time being able-bodied Jews were to be spared and employed in industry to meet current requirements. I was so much impressed with this document which gave Eichmann authority to kill millions of people that I said at the time : "May God forbid that our enemies should ever do anything similar to the German people". He replied : "Don't be sentimental-this is a Fuehrer order". I realized at that time. that the order was a death warrant for millions of people and that the power to execute this order was in Eichmann's hands subject to approval of Heydrich and later Kaltenbrunner. The program of extermination was already under way and continued until late 1944.”

Measures 148x210mm, mint condition; The recipient is Unteroffizier (NCO) Alfons Schmidt of the 3rd Battalion of Kampfgeschwader (Bomber Wing) 54. The document is dated to Gefechtsstand (Combat Headquarters) on July 18, 1944. It is signed in blue ink by Lieutenant Colonel and Wing Commodore Volprecht Konrad Riedesel Freiherr zu Eisenbach. The Front Flying Clasp in Bronze was awarded for 20 flown missions.

Footnote: The Kampfgeschwader 54 was nicknamed “Totenkopf” for its Death’s Head insignia. However, it had no connection to the 3rd SS Panzer Division of the same name. Its members flew missions in all theatres of the Second World War. During the summer of 1944, they were tasked with flying missions during the Allied Operation Overlord.

Volprecht Konrad Riedesel Freiherr zu Eisenbach (1912–1945) was a bomber pilot and recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. He took part in the invasion of Poland, the Battle of France, the Battle of Britain, Operation Barbarossa, and the Battle of Stalingrad, among other assignments. His Knight’s Cross was awarded for 250 combat flights, the Oak Leaves for 500 combat flights. He died in a crash with an American plane and was posthumously promoted to Colonel.

Measuring 14.8 x 21.8 cm; Date of item: 1944; Condition: very good, signs of aging; A certificate for the award of the Schnellboots-Kriegsabzeichen (Fast Attack Craft War Badge) for Matrose (sailor) Günther Herzog, part of the 4th Schnellbootsflottille (fast attack craft flotilla). It is awarded “in the name of the supreme commander of the navy”, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, who was the award’s donor. The document is signed on July 1st, 1944, by the leader of the fast attack crafts. To be eligible, a soldier had to have one of the following: 12 engagements against the enemy - a particularly successful mission or being killed in action - being wounded (in special cases) or survive being sunk - performing an heroic action where no other award was given; On the top is a depiction of the badge: a torpedo boat breaking the waves inside a wreath of oak leaves with an imperial eagle on top, standing on a swastika. The 4th Schnellbootsflottille operated in the North Sea and the English Channel between 1940 and 1944.